When it comes to places that people come back to year after year, none are quite as special as Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

From surreal folk art environments to glitzy hotels, from secret gardens to town squares, here are our favorite quick escapes—all within 200 miles of Atlanta.

Old Car City claims to be the world’s largest old car junkyard and the oldest junkyard jungle in Georgia, plus Atlanta Motor Speedway, Road Atlanta, Porsche Experience Center, and Dixie Speedway.

Though the Kennesaw Mountain National Park commemorates the Civil War, it is no tribute to the Lost Cause. But you don’t have to care about history to enjoy this fee-free park’s nearly 20 miles of trails.

With such a remarkable backstory, it’s no surprise that the Barnsley estate still exudes romance three decades after the ruins were purchased and turned into a resort by a Bavarian prince (no joke). Now, the manor house’s brick skeleton serves as a dramatic set for candlelit dinners and parties.

Medal-winning Tiger Mountain Vineyards is best known for introducing Petit Manseng to Georgia. The white grape from southern France yields a refreshing white wine, perfect for savoring at Tiger’s Red Barn Cafe.

In 1935, three mystical beings from a land called Pasaquan came to Eddie Martin, a starving artist in New York and the son of a South Georgia sharecropper, in a fever dream. They told Martin how mankind could live in harmony and urged him to teach the world about this peaceful future through art.

One festival for every month of the year: Atlanta Dragon Boat Festival in Gainesville, International Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens, and more.

Check out nearly 100 antebellum homes while listening to an audio walking tour in Madison, view the three “Southern Trilogy” antebellum houses in Roswell, and the actual mansion that inspired Ashley Wilkes’s home in Gone with the Wind in Twelve Oaks.

Sit close enough to hear the pop of the catcher’s mitt. Sip $1 PBRs on Dollar Drink Night. These six Minor League Baseball teams are within day-trip range!

Cartersville is home to two Smithsonian affiliate museums: the Booth Western Art Museum, which houses the largest permanent exhibition space for Western American art in the country, and the Tellus Science Museum, which features minerals, fossils, a digital planetarium, and an observatory with a 20-inch telescope.

Home to the nation’s first gold rush, the town still has two mines—Crisson Gold Mine and Consolidated Gold Mines. Also don't miss out on visiting the General Store and watching a show at the restored vintage Holly Theater.